Weighbridges cut out measurement bottlenecks

Three Eurodeck weighbridges are carrying out vital tasks for Ronez at two separate locations on the picturesque island of Guernsey.

Three Eurodeck weighbridges supplied by leading weighing specialists Weightron Bilanciai are carrying out vital tasks for Ronez at two separate locations on the picturesque island of Guernsey.

Two weighbridges have been installed at the company's Monmains Yard near St Sampsons Harbour on the north east coast while the third is located a few miles away at its new asphalt plant at Les Vardes Quarry.

Ronez, which is part of the UK based Aggregate Industries, is a vertically integrated aggregate-based business and is the predominant company of its kind in the Channel Islands, producing aggregates, asphalt, precast concrete products and ready mixed concrete from two principal locations in Jersey and Guernsey.

Steadily increasing demand for its products, together with the fact that the existing 8m weighbridge was nearing the end of its useful life, had prompted Ronez to review its weighing requirements at Monmains Yard.

Put into the equation was also the fact that they were planning a new asphalt plant at Les Vardes Quarry, which also needed vehicle weighing capabilities.

Having looked at the overall requirements, it became clear that the new weighbridges had to meet a number of important technical and logistical criteria.

Vehicles using the asphalt plant can be loaded from any of three filling points and therefore the weighbridge needed to be over four metres wide to accommodate this.

To avoid bottlenecks and unwanted delays at Monmains, Ronez decided the weighing of incoming aggregate from the quarry should be separated from the normal outgoing weighing activities.

Last but not least, the bridges ideally needed to be modular so that they could be shipped over to Guernsey on normal lorries.

The competitive solution proposed by Weightron Bilanciai met all the criteria without compromise.

At Monmains, two standard 12m, 60t-capacity Eurodeck pit mounted weighbridges have been supplied, while for the asphalt plant, a 4.35m-wide, 60t Eurodeck bridge accommodates the different filling positions.

Unlike most conventional weighbridges, the Eurodeck does not use large longitudinal steel beams, which dictate that the bridge must be wider than the vehicle being weighed.

Instead the design is made up of standard sections varying from 9 to 9m, which feature a larger number of smaller beams supporting a 10mm steel deck.

These beams run lengthways, consistent with traffic flow, and have sufficient depth so that they do not need stiffening plates.

This concept gives design flexibility for both pit and surface mounted applications and the modular sections readily fit onto standard vehicles for transportation.

The weighbridges use Weightron Bilanciai's own fully weld-sealed stainless steel rocker pin load cells, which provide excellent performance and reliability.

The baseplates have insulating discs, which provide electrical isolation to minimise the effects of lightning strikes while sealing rings prevent any debris entering the bases.

The full glass-to-metal cable entry seal and stainless bellows ensure full sealing to IP68.

The rocker pin concept provides an effective energy restoring system, which ensures the weighbridge deck returns quickly to equilibrium after the vehicle has driven onto the weighbridge.

The weighbridge used for weighing incoming product from the quarry is fitted with Weightron's new Self 800 unmanned weighing terminal, which has been specifically designed to speed up vehicle weighing procedures.

Access to the weighbridge is via a designated swipe card and the unit provides a complete material handling management system.

Not only does the system speed up weighing operations, but it also allows the weighbridge to be used outside normal working hours.

The large touch control backlit LCD provides clear information and the comprehensive search facility allows operators simple and quick access to the relevant data.

The unit recognises registered hauliers and individual vehicle information including tare weights and registration details.

The terminal also has the facility to control vehicle access via traffic lights and stop barriers.

There are essentially two main modes of operation, single weighing and double weighing.

For vehicles not registered in the database for a particular site, the driver stops the vehicle on the weighbridge, swipes the card and the terminal issues a ticket with the inbound weight data.

After loading or unloading has taken place, the driver returns to the weighbridge and having swiped the card again, receives a ticket automatically calculating the weight of product delivered or collected.

In the single weighing mode, when a card for a "known vehicle" is swiped, the terminal retrieves previously stored data relating to that vehicle's registration number and tare weight.

Using this information, the terminal then issues a ticket showing the calculated net weight of material being delivered or collected, thereby removing the need for a second weighing.

Peter de Garis, General Manager for Ronez Guernsey, is pleased with the overall solution and concludes: "The systems installed in Guernsey meet all our requirements both technically and financially.

Weightron Bilanciai have been very flexible during installation and commissioning.

To minimise any disruption to our operations, the first 12m bridge was installed before removing the old bridge.

The unmanned weighbridge will ensure there is no congestion at Monmains".

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